Marketers commonly use email marketing as an online customer retention tool. Such tools are typically used in an effort to keep existing customers and have them buy the Marketer's services or products again. Emails are sent to existing customers to inform them of new developments or new offers regarding the Marketer's products or services. The emails often include a URL that the customer may click on, whereupon the customer is directed to a “landing page” that contains details regarding the Marketer's new developments or offers. The actual email sending software keeps track of the number of times customers click on the URL. Some solutions also examine the buying behavior of existing customers to generate customer profiles in an attempt to create marketing programs that target existing customers more effectively. However, online customer retention tools focus on keeping existing customers, not on acquiring new customers.
Other solutions include sending large numbers of unsolicited emails (spam) to potential customers. Such solutions indiscriminately target anyone with an email address. The unsolicited emails are often caught by spam filters, in which case the potential customer never sees the emails. And unsolicited emails that make it through spam filters are routinely deleted by the recipient without further examination. For these reasons, unsolicited emails are typically ineffective as customer acquisition tools. Accordingly, a need exists for an improved solution for customer acquisition.